Yerba mate is one of the few things we grow here purely to drink, and it came with one of my favorite origin legends of anything in the food forest.
The Basics
Yerba mate, Ilex paraguariensis, is a tree in the holly family, Aquifoliaceae, that can reach around 40 feet given the chance, though it’s usually kept smaller and shrubby where it’s farmed for its leaves.
Origin and Habitat
It’s native to South America, mainly the region spanning Paraguay, northern Argentina, and southern Brazil, and was first cultivated and consumed by the indigenous Guarani people. There’s an old legend that the goddesses of the moon and clouds came down to earth and were confronted by a jaguar, only to be saved by an old man, and as thanks they gave him the yerba mate plant, one that’s supposed to represent friendship ever since.
What It Looks Like
An evergreen tree with glossy, dark green leaves that get harvested, dried, and sometimes lightly toasted before being used for tea.
Uses and Flavor
The dried leaves get steeped in hot water to make a caffeine-rich infusion, traditionally sipped through a metal straw called a bombilla that filters out the loose bits, and passed around a group rather than drunk solo, which fits the whole friendship legend pretty well. It runs about 1.7% caffeine by dry weight, lower than ground coffee’s roughly 3.2%, but it also contains theobromine, the same compound found in cacao, along with polyphenols like quercetin and rutin that come with their own list of health benefits.
Growing It Here
Planted as a straightforward tree in the ground rather than anything I’m actively harvesting yet, but the plan eventually is to actually dry and try some leaves ourselves rather than just admiring the legend behind it.
Pests and Diseases to Watch For
Nothing to report yet, still too early to have run into anything specific with this one.
Kenta’s Take
A plant that’s supposedly a gift for saving someone from a jaguar is a pretty good story to be growing in the yard. Looking forward to actually brewing some once there’s enough leaf to justify it.